Broken Age Act 2 Development at Beta!

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Hey all, happy 2015! LOTS of big milestones being hit by the Broken Age team in the past month, so let’s just take a second to hear Tim rattle them all off in video form!

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And for the video-averse, a summary:

-All dialog is written

-All English voice is recorded

-All German voice is recorded

-All dialog and voice is implemented

-PlayStation 4 and Vita are up and running

-Gameplay programming is locked

-External QA testing has begun

-Nordic Games retail box art by Cory Schmitz is done, looks awesome, and is at the printers.

OH MAN we’re getting there! What this means is we’re preeeeeeetty much at beta these days. The brunt of the remaining beta work left on the game is to finish up all the final cutscene animation now that we have final voice, and then the visual effects and audio work that follows.

The game is in a highly playable state now, and we’ve been doing a bunch of playtesting both with employees at DF and developer friends outside the studio, which continues to be really encouraging!

Now we’re in that final stretch of polishing things up and pushing that bug countdown to zero! It’s a really exciting time. We now can see the full picture of the game we’re going to ship and are able to make small tweaks that really affect the quality of the experience. The good news is that we’re already excited about what we have, and these next few months of polish and bug fixing should allow us to ship something we’re super super proud of.

Can’t wait to get the rest of the game into your hands! This also has us looking forward a bit to the remaining rewards left to ship. Here’s a handy dandy breakdown on where we are with all of those things!:

That’s it for now! You can expect another documentary episode in the weeks prior to launch and more project updates as we hit major milestones. Until then, hopefully you can keep yourselves busy with Grim!

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Everyone was looking a little haunted in the last Episode and being a backer is like being an honorary part of the team. You can feel the pressure. (immersive documenting!)

I'm so pleased the end of development is in sight and the tension will finally turn into excitement for the release and the relief and satisfaction of a job well done. I can't wait to play Act 2. And to see what's next for Double Fine beyond this (maybe after everyone has had a day or three vacation)

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This was a very well thought video, thanks Tim and the Team! (hmm... Tim and the Team... must... be... some... pun there... or at least a band name). Thanks for letting us join you all on this amazing trip, its ups and downs, and everything in between. You are all awesome and I will forever follow all your projects with interest and with an insightful and trained eye now that I have seen what developing a game really is about. Hugs!

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Almost missed this update! Thank you very much, Reds team, for your continued hard work on a game that made me very happy in Act 1 and will surely make me even more happy in Act 2.

And a very special shout out to Tim for his shout out to Peter Molyneux. The way Double Fine and Peter have been treated has made me very disappointed in both the gaming community and the games press. There is a much broader problem with the internet generally where lynching-via-social-media is becoming more and more common, but it is especially sad and disappointing to see the press initiate or participate in those campaigns.

It’s not just video games, and the victims don’t even really have to do anything super bad. All it takes is the right clickbaiter noticing you at the right time. And then… SOCIAL MEDIA ARRIVES

BUT ANYWAY….

I’m not just a DF fan because they make games that I enjoy to play. I am a DF fan because of the honesty, and passion, and spirit that the company and the people exude. I like Double Fine for the same reason I like Nintendo or Pixar: there is a purity and heart to the joy they create that is rare and appealing. You know who else has a lot of heart? Peter Molyneux. Maybe you like or dislike his games, but how can you not be a fan of one of the most big-hearted dudes in the whole business?

Where’s my leather jacket with 2HB on the back? I'm rollin' with DF for life.

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Molyneux has admitted to promise anything in order to merely get funded. That lying whore deserves no sympathies.

I hope one day you try to earnestly do what you love and that your reward for your struggles is to be called a lying wh*re.

I've got less sympathy for the people who actually backed him. Dude hasn't delivered for decades, when I heard he had a kickstarter I thought it was supposed to be satire or something. But nope - apparently people are actually dumb enough to give him their money.

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Molyneux has admitted to promise anything in order to merely get funded. That lying whore deserves no sympathies.

I hope one day you try to earnestly do what you love and that your reward for your struggles is to be called a lying wh*re.

I've got less sympathy for the people who actually backed him. Dude hasn't delivered for decades, when I heard he had a kickstarter I thought it was supposed to be satire or something. But nope - apparently people are actually dumb enough to give him their money.

I don't need to have any opinion on Peter to say that I don't have sympathy for anyone who gives money to any kickstarter campaign and then cries about it later. These types have managed to turn good will into gimme-gimme selfishness, which is more heartbreaking than anything any publisher has ever done.

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I don't need to have any opinion on Peter to say that I don't have sympathy for anyone who gives money to any kickstarter campaign and then cries about it later.

It depends on who you're backing. The people whose project manager has to be transparent as $%. Otherwise, we–the backers–will get the idea that the projectors just took the money and ran. I've backed games where there was little transparency and I'm unsure if they're actually working on the game, let alone delivering the rewards. Also, I've backed a musical project where one of the reward tiers was the singer would do a cover of my choice and yet she hasn't delivered four years later. Granted, for most of the projects I backed, I received all of my rewards. Also, the pledgers must be patient. That doesn't mean the pledgers aren't entitled to get the rewards they were promised. At best, it's incompetence. At worst, it's a swindle.

NOTE: The above paragraph does not apply to Double Fine Adventure. I feel like I'm getting what I paid for.

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I don't need to have any opinion on Peter to say that I don't have sympathy for anyone who gives money to any kickstarter campaign and then cries about it later.

It depends on who you're backing. The people whose project manager has to be transparent as $%. Otherwise, we–the backers–will get the idea that the projectors just took the money and ran. I've backed games where there was little transparency and I'm unsure if they're actually working on the game, let alone delivering the rewards. Also, I've backed a musical project where one of the reward tiers was the singer would do a cover of my choice and yet she hasn't delivered four years later. Granted, for most of the projects I backed, I received all of my rewards. Also, the pledgers must be patient. That doesn't mean the pledgers aren't entitled to get the rewards they were promised. At best, it's incompetence. At worst, it's a swindle.

NOTE: The above paragraph does not apply to Double Fine Adventure. I feel like I'm getting what I paid for.

Should project leaders have to take responsibility for a project that fails or does not go well? Yes, of course. By which I mean they should at least be honest about it and tell it like it is. I don't think they owe anyone their money back. At all. Period.

Should Kickstarter (the company) have to take responsibility for people using their platform to swindle? Yes, of course.

But in many cases these backers are acting as if THEY don’t have to take responsibility for ANYTHING in this exchange. But that is complete garbage and frankly childish.

It’s like if I said, “I’m trying to bake a delicious pie, but I have to get to the oven in the next town over to finish it and I don’t have any gas money,” and then you said, “I’ll give you a ride over so you can finish it,” and I was like “Cool, that's nice of you, thanks”. And then you drive me over, and when I get there, I try to finish it, but I find out I'm missing an ingredient or I accidentally put it in the oven for too long and it comes out burned. Or maybe I just keep trying different things and it's taking me days to actually make it and you start to wonder what's taking me so long to just bake a pie. Are you really at that point going to say, “I drove you over here so you could bake me a pie and now this?! You owe me $10 of gas money, you lying wh**e.”

No one guaranteed these children anything or twisted their arms. Kickstarter is great in principle, but apparently 90% of core gamers are Veruca Salt and can’t handle it. That is way more depressing and frustrating to me than anything Peter Molyneux or whoever else failed to deliver. Especially disappointing to see in adult professionals.

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Should project leaders have to take responsibility for a project that fails or does not go well? Yes, of course. By which I mean they should at least be honest about it and tell it like it is. I don't think they owe anyone their money back. At all. Period.

But I paid $500 for the premium tier of this campaign. I didn't even get any replies at all back from PMs to the singer or the producer. I didn't just give them $500 to complete the project; I gave them $500 for that special cover tier. I didn't even get an A Capella Back. It's incredibly frustrating.

Should Kickstarter (the company) have to take responsibility for people using their platform to swindle? Yes, of course.

I'm glad we agree on this.

But in many cases these backers are acting as if THEY don’t have to take responsibility for ANYTHING in this exchange. But that is complete garbage and frankly childish.

But they did take responsibility by coughing up the dough. If I go into a store that says "candy for $1" and I give them $1 but I get no candy, would I not have a right to be pissed?

It’s like if I said, “I’m trying to build a cool thing, but I have to get to the next town over to finish it and I don’t have any gas money,” and then you said, “I’ll give you a ride over so you can finish it,” and I was like “Cool, thanks”. And then you drive me over, and when I get there, I try to finish it, but it turns out I am unable to for one reason or another. Are you really at that point going to say, “I drove you over here so you could complete this project and now it’s not even done. You owe me $10 of gas money, you liar.”

See my examples above. What if you're silent? I'll think you're a swindler or a thief. Or what if you never build me the cool thing even after I wait and wait and wait and wait and the more I ask about it, you still stay silent? I'd even think you're more of a swindler! That doesn't make a child, that makes me a victim of a swindle.

No one guaranteed these children anything or twisted their arms.

Except the person managing the Kickstarter.

Kickstarter is great in principle, but apparently 90% of core gamers are Veruca Salt and can’t handle it. That is way more depressing and frustrating to me than anything Peter Molyneux or whoever else failed to deliver. Especially out of adults professionals.

Where'd you get the 90% figure? Did you make up that statistic?

I again want to reiterate that this forum post does NOT apply to the vast majority of Kickstarters (EDIT: including Double Fine's for Broken Age) I backed, only a tiny minority of edge cases.

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I realize I'm the minority in thinking the way I do and that largely accounts for how frustrated I feel.

If I blame Kickstarter and/or the project managers at all, I would say that it is unfortunate that these parties were not able to sooner identify and handle the misperceptions about what kickstarter even is and what it means to "back" something as opposed to "pay for" something.

I do have more sympathy for people who did not receive their backer rewards, since that is a completely different animal, but my sympathy there might also depend on certain conditions.

Except in the rare case of actual demonstrable swindling, the notion that "I GAVE YOU MONEY ON KICKSTARTER WHERE IS THE GAME" has no legs to stand on, as far as I'm concerned.